This paper makes the case that while women in Canada may not suffer the extremes of subordination faced by many of their counterparts in other parts of the world, inequality and violations of women’s human rights still contribute to their vulnerability and to the challenges they face in seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS.

As in other parts of the world, women living in poverty, women who inject drugs, Aboriginal women, women in the sex trade, and many women who come from countries where HIV is endemic are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, but vulnerability extends to all women who may not be aware of their own risk and who day to day may not be able to control all of the elements that add up to safer sex or safer drug use.